The Chaos Emeralds (カオスエメラルド,Kaosu Emerarudo?) are prominent objects that appear in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. They are seven ancient emeralds and mystical relics tied to the Master Emerald, with powerful properties and abilities. Those that hold the Chaos Emeralds can use their powers for a variety of things, such as initiating a super transformation, powering machines, and warping time and space. Anyone who combines all seven of the Chaos Emeralds can command ultimate power.

Throughout history, the Chaos Emeralds have been the center of countless world-threating conflicts and have been targeted by multiple factions on both earth and beyond, who seek them for their immeasurable powers. In the hands of villains they have been used for doomsday weapons and schemes for world domination, and in the hands of heroes they have been used to save the planet. Over time, the Chaos Emeralds have been gathered multiple times, though after each usage they tend to scatter themselves and reset the hunt for them.

In the early games of the series, the Chaos Emeralds were more like "bonus" items, but since Sonic Adventure, they have become necessary plot devices, and that trend has continued throughout the later games.

Contents

Background

The Chaos Emeralds' background are shrouded in mystery and no one knows where they came from.[1] It is known that they have been around for several millennia and predate the Master Emerald which has existed since before recorded time[1] and that they have played a large role in numerous events throughout known history. The Chaos Emeralds' power has been passed down into legend, and the power of all seven emeralds brought together has been described from the emergence of a mysterious power to no less than a miracle.[2][3]

Over the course of history, ancient civilizations came to know about the Chaos Emeralds and sought to harness their power: according to legend, the ancient civilization on West Side Island utilized the power of the Chaos Emeralds for the advancement of their society and achieved great prosperity.[4] Other civilizations also seeking them included the Babylonians, who existed thousands of years ago and the Black Arms, who have visited earth for at least 2,000 years. The Chaos Emeralds also have a connection to the Gaia Temples which supposedly to go back ten thousands of years, if not more. Similarly, the Chaos Emeralds would shape several locations on earth, like Cocoa Island which was part of a coral reef in that was pulled to the surface by the Emeralds' power,[5] and South Island which shifts along the water due to the Emeralds' presence.[6]

It is said that in the era predating recorded history, the Chaos Emeralds were also used for evil deeds. One known instance was when West Side Island's prosperity lead to avarice as some people wanted the emeralds for their own evil intentions, sparking a conflict so great that the gods had to intervene and seal the Chaos Emeralds.[4] Having witnessed this misuse, the gods created the Master Emerald to balance out the Chaos Emeralds' power[1] and equipped the gem with the ability to nullify and control them. An ancient mantra associated with the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald would eventually arise, explaining their connection and the Chaos Emeralds' ability to transform thoughts into power, which goes like this: "The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power, power is enriched by the heart. The heart is the controller. The controller serves to unify the Chaos."

The Chaos Emeralds at the Emerald Shrine 4,000 years prior to Sonic Adventure.

Over 4,000 years ago, the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald came to reside in the Altar of the Emeralds, a shrine in the outskirts of the Mystic Ruins where a colony of Chao lived peacefully. This shrine was protected by a sacred barrier, preventing anyone from taking the Emeralds. There, a certain Chao was exposed to the Chaos Emeralds which mutated it into the mystical water beast Chaos, which would take up the role of the shrine's guardian.[7][8]

Around 4,000 years ago, ancient echidna civilizations knew of the Chaos Emeralds and sought their secrets.[1] The Nocturnus Clan were known to have been experimenting with the Chaos Emeralds as a part of the creation of the Gizoid,[1] while the Knuckles Clan revered the Chaos Emeralds as sacred[9] and they became a part of their lore along with their associated mantra. Tikal, the daughter of chief Pachacamac of the Knuckles Clan and a friend to the Chao and Chaos, was eventually allowed into the shrine by Chaos where she could behold the Chaos Emeralds.

As the Knuckles Clan faced extermination at the hands of the Nocturnus Clan, chief Pachacamac and his followers launched a raid on the Altar of the Emeralds to take the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald to gain undisputed power. Tikal attempted to stop her clan, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Trampling over Tikal and the Chao alike, Pachacamac and his warriors were poised to take the emeralds. However, Chaos blocked their path and in a fit of rage, it used the Chaos Emeralds to become Perfect Chaos and wiped out the clan's civilization in vengeance, before it was sealed in the Master Emerald by Tikal. After this tragic event, the emeralds were named the "Chaos Emeralds" by the surviving members of the Knuckles Clan due to their connection with Chaos,[7] and they have since been primarily guarded by the echidnas.

Powers and traits

Each Chaos Emerald is said to possess mystical properties and contains unlimited amounts of highly potent and powerful chaos energy that is said to give life to all things.[12] Even alone, their power is unmatched by pretty much anything else in the universe, except by the Power of the Stars and the Master Emerald.[13] It is often said that those whom manage to combine all seven Chaos Emeralds would gain ultimate power.[1] Because of the great amounts of power emanating from each emerald, it is possible to create radars to track their energy signature.

The main power of each Chaos Emerald is described as being able to “transform thoughts into power”;[3] by "sensing" people's thoughts, the Chaos Emeralds are able to generate the chaos energy they contain which make the Emeralds' an everlasting source of pure energy. By focusing one's thoughts, the Chaos Emeralds are even able to bend reality to achieve certain feats,[14] such as showing visions, performing rituals, reviving the recently deceased and even make the Chaos Emeralds react on their own. Additionally, each Emerald can float in midair on its own power.

The Chaos Emeralds' power can be harnessed, either by their wielders or machinery, even without physical contact with the Emeralds and over great distances. When harnessed by living beings, the user can perform different Chaos Powers, such as Chaos Control, and occasionally get their own abilities enhanced. Harnessing the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds will initiate a super transformation into a Super State, a form that grants flight, invulnerability, different Chaos Powers, and greatly increased innate talents. These transformations, however, do not last long, as they consume tremendous amounts of energy and require Rings to be maintained over longer periods of time. The energies of these super transformations can also be given from one person to another to allow that person to achieve a Super State of their own.

The energy of the Emeralds can also be used to power machines, making it possible to power various types of machinery that normally would be impossible to use due to the immense amounts of energy they require, such as the Eclipse Cannon. Potentially, their power can also be used for nuclear or laser based weaponry.[15]

The type of chaos energy the Emeralds produce is based on thoughts/emotions. Positive thoughts, such as friendship and caring, generate positive energies and negative thoughts, such as anger and hatred, generate negative energies. If the Chaos Emeralds are either absent of the negative energies (or possibly positive energies) or all of their energy, they will become inert and apparently powerless. The only known ways to restore the Emeralds from this state is through peoples' thoughts or the Gaia Temples. The Chaos Emeralds can as well take on other powers, as when the Overmind psychically treated them into Great Emeralds which boosted their psychic powers.

The Chaos Emeralds appear to amplify their own power the more of them there are used in the process. This is mainly demonstrated with the Eclipse Cannon: with five Emeralds it could destroy a large city, with six Emeralds it could blow up half of the moon and with all seven Emeralds it could destroy planets and pierce stars.

Each Chaos Emerald is linked to each other and act like magnets that can attract or repel each other. This for example allowed Tails to pinpoint Dr. Eggman's location on Space Colony ARK because he had the rest of the Chaos Emeralds in his possession.

Collecting

For unknown or unexplained reasons, after the Chaos Emeralds have played their part in the story in the games, the users of them apparently lose possession of the emeralds, and they have to be collected in the following game. While the Chaos Emeralds can lie around basically anywhere, they can quite often be found in Special Stages, strange alternate dimensions.

Although Sonic is seen at the end of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game allowing the Emeralds to return to their original places, it is unknown why the Chaos Emeralds need to be collected at the beginning of every game (except, of course, for the purpose of game dynamics).

However, there is one exception to this explanation. During the opening sequence for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (if the player chooses Sonic alone or both Sonic and Tails as his/her character choice), Sonic is in possession of all seven of the Chaos Emeralds at the beginning. This is evident when he leaps off the Tornado and falls off-screen only to come racing across the ocean as Super Sonic before making his way onto Angel Island. There, Knuckles steals the Chaos Emeralds and hides them from Sonic so that he has to search from scratch like all other games. In the first season of the anime series Sonic X, Sonic states that every time they come together they always scatter again. Thus, another explanation could possibly be that Sonic himself hides them so their power won't fall into the wrong hands, and so all of them won't be in one group for "easy picking." This is also backed up by the Sonic X series in its final season where Sonic scattered the Chaos Emeralds throughout the universe while he was in his Super form so the Metarex wouldn't get a hold of them.

Another reason why the Chaos Emeralds are spread is because they have magnetic qualities as stated earlier; after each use of the Chaos Emeralds, the resulted merge of the emeralds and their power forces them to repel themselves from their shared location, so they tend to scatter themselves after each use.

Game appearances

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

In the original Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis, there are six Chaos Emeralds which can be found at each of six Special Stages. According to Japanese instruction manual, Chaos Emeralds are able to give energy to all living beings. In the game, while Dr. Robotnik has taking over the South Island, he is after Chaos Emeralds which are lying somewhere on the island.

After getting the six Chaos Emeralds and clearing the game, the player gets the good ending of the game; after foiling doctor's plans, Sonic returns to the Green Hill Zone, where Chaos Emeralds start hover and rotate in the mid-air. After that, the Emeralds disappear in the flash, with new kinds of flowers having appeared around the Green Hill Zone for Sonic. In the bad ending, after the credits sequence, Robotnik is seen throwing Chaos Emeralds around in his hands with words "Try Again" written below. The Emeralds Robotnik is seen throwing around in that scene depends on which Chaos Emeralds the player was not able to get before the ending.

While the plot is mostly identical in the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog, the Chaos Emeralds are not found in the Special Stages, but rather, each one of them are hidden in the game's regular Zones. Each of six Chaos Emeralds are worth of 20,000 points at the Zone's game's score and are colored dark blue in the game. Collecting all six Chaos Emeralds changes the ending, where they start hovering above South Island from Sonic's hands and dispose of the pollutant above the island caused by the Scrap Brain Zone. After that, the Chaos Emeralds vanish.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Genesis features for the first time all seven Chaos Emeralds, which can be collected by completing each of the seven Special Stages in the game. In the game, Dr. Robotnik is once again after Chaos Emeralds, which are this time lying somewhere on West Side Island to finish his newest creation, the Death Egg. When the player obtains all seven Chaos Emeralds, Sonic is able to turn into Super Sonic in regular Zones. Collecting all of them will unlock the good ending of the game as well; instead of being saved by Tails as in the bad ending, Super Sonic flies from exploding Death Egg in the last second, with Tails on the Tornado and a Locky herd flying behind him in the sky.

In the 8-bit version of the game, Dr. Robotnik kidnapped Tails and demands Sonic to bring six Chaos Emeralds as ransom request. Five of the Chaos Emeralds are hidden inside each of the game's Zones while Silver Sonic in Scrambled Egg Zone is holding sixth Chaos Emerald. After collecting the five Chaos Emeralds and defeating Silver Sonic, Sonic is granted access to the Crystal Egg Zone, where he defeats Robotnik and rescues Tails.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles

In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which takes place after Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic is possessing all seven Chaos Emeralds when he and Tails arrive to investigate Angel Island. As they approach Angel Island, Sonic uses the Emeralds to enter his Super State and storms the island, but on the island Knuckles the Echidna ambushes him and makes him loses all seven Chaos Emeralds, which Knuckles then steals and hides away on the island. In the game, the Chaos Emeralds can be once again collected after each of the game's Special Stages. Like in previous installment, the player can turn into Super Sonic and the ending is slightly different.

In Sonic & Knuckles, Chaos Emeralds can be obtained from different Special Stages and both Sonic and Knuckles can turn into their own Super States by collecting all seven each. With Chaos Emeralds, the player can also enter the Doomsday Zone to clear the game with different ending. However, in the lock-on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, when the player arrives at Mushroom Hill Zone and touches the rainbow-colored Giant Ring at the beginning of the Zone, he/she gets transported to the Hidden Palace Zone, where Chaos Emeralds become Super Emeralds which the player can collect. After this sequence, the player is unable to turn into Super State again, but there is change to skip the rainbow-colored Giant Ring, enter the Doomsday Zone and finish the game with just Chaos Emeralds.

Sonic Adventure

Sonic using the drained Chaos Emeralds.

In Sonic Adventure, the Chaos Emeralds were collected by Eggman in order to feed Chaos, the guardian of the Chao and Emeralds, and it changed form every time it received one of the gems. With all seven, it became Perfect Chaos, and used up all of the negative energy in the Emeralds before dropping the dull-colored emeralds (which are left with positive energy) onto the ground. Sonic then picked all seven up and used the positive energy to become Super Sonic and destroy Perfect Chaos. Also in the game, Tikal states that "The 7 Emeralds can change our thoughts into power", and that the Master Emerald controls that power.

Sonic Adventure 2

In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic and Shadow had the ability to use the Chaos Emeralds to utilize "Chaos Control", an ability that alters time and space to teleport or freeze time. Interestingly, Sonic, at one point, uses the Chaos Control ability with a fake Emerald that had the same wavelengths and properties as a real one. Shadow told Eggman to collect a few Chaos Emeralds in order to get enough power for the Eclipse Cannon. In the end side Eggman had six Chaos Emeralds and he was able to destroy half the moon.

Sonic and Shadow with the Emeralds just before transforming into their Super States.

Tails soon managed to produce a "fake Chaos Emerald" that Sonic used in order to teleport back to the Space Colony ARK when Eggman sent him to space in an explosive capsule. Eggman stole the real emerald from Tails and put into to the Eclipse Cannon; however, when all seven were collected, the ARK started to fall toward Earth in order to kill millions of innocents for vengeance of Gerald Robotnik. The Chaos Emeralds were disabled by Knuckles, who used the Master Emerald, but when it appeared to be useless, as Biolizard was controlling the ARK, Sonic and Shadow used the emeralds to transform into their Super States for the last battle.

Sonic Advance series

Sonic Advance

In Sonic Advance, the Chaos Emeralds are attainable from Special Stages. When all seven are collected, the player can access The Moon Zone during Sonic's gameplay or start his game from the said zone, allowing the player to see the true ending of the game. The Chaos Emeralds are shared among the cast of the playable characters so any character can collect any of the Chaos Emeralds for Sonic to access The Moon Zone.

Sonic Advance 2

In Sonic Advance 2 the Chaos Emeralds are once again attainable from Special Stages. Unlike Sonic Advance, the Chaos Emeralds are not shared between the characters, meaning that each character will have to attain their own set of seven Chaos Emeralds in their gameplay. If the player collects all seven Chaos Emeralds with any character, the Tiny Chao Garden feature and Boss mode of Time Attack are unlocked. If Sonic collects all seven Chaos Emeralds, the player can access True Area 53 from the Zone Select and progress to the true ending of the game. If all four characters each have collected the seven Chaos Emeralds, Amy becomes an playable character.

Sonic Advance 3

Much like its previous installments in the series, the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic Advance 3 are attained from Special Stages. After all seven Chaos Emeralds are collected, the player can access Nonaggression after defeating the final boss with Sonic as the team leader.

Sonic Heroes

In Sonic Heroes, the gameplay pays homage to classic elements, so it goes back to a way of collecting the Chaos Emeralds from Special Stages to unlock the Last Story. Just before the battle against Metal Overlord, Sonic becomes Super Sonic and he gave some of his energy to Tails and Knuckles, giving them Super Shields.

Shadow the Hedgehog

Black Doom with the Chaos Emeralds

In Shadow the Hedgehog, the Emeralds were found throughout the stages (again, Special Stages weren't used), and Shadow collected all seven by the end of the game, only to let them be stolen by the evil alien Black Doom, who used a superpowered Chaos Control to bring the Black Comet to Earth's surface. Shadow then got the Chaos Emeralds back and transformed into Super Shadow in order to destroy Black Doom and teleport the Black Comet into space to be destroyed by the Space Colony ARK's Eclipse Cannon, the cannon itself using the Chaos Emeralds as its power source. It should be noted that the Chaos Emeralds are more lightness in the game than the other games.

Sonic Rush

In Sonic Rush the Chaos Emeralds are necessary to access the final stage of the game. Special Stages make a return as a way to obtain the Emeralds. The Emeralds are shown to have an inter-dimensional counterpart, the Sol Emeralds, with similar powers. The Chaos and Sol Emeralds' powers are shown to come from the positive emotions of their wielders in this game and they are used by both Sonic and Blaze to transform into their Super States.

Sonic Jump

In Sonic Jump, the Chaos Emeralds can be obtained by completing an act with at least 50 Rings to obtain a fragment of it. In the game's plot, Eggman schemes to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds to power his Brainwash Beam but Sonic stops him, causing the Emeralds to scatter themselves. Sonic then eventually retrieved all of them (after getting the last one from Eggman).

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), the Emeralds fully take on the power to "transform thoughts into power", just as the Master Emerald was said to be capable of doing in Sonic Adventure. These emeralds appear slightly smaller in size, and give off gleaming sparks of light of their respective colors, and are given the additional title of "miracle gems".

In the tiant and seal the newly born Iblis into his daughter's soul, so long as she abstain from crying, with the only other stipulation being that the vessel must be of royalty. Mephiles succeeds in mass-producing duplicates of himself using two Emeralds, and showing Silver a fabricated vision of a smug-looking Sonic surrounded in flames, through the Emerald itself.

Only six of the Chaos Emeralds appeared in this game: the green emerald (which Shadow and Rouge found whilst exploring Crisis City in the future. They then used it along with the cyan emerald to go back to the present while Shadow stayed in the future to battle Mephiles. Rouge then gave the Chaos Emerald to E123-Omega to give to Shadow in the future so as to escape Mephiles. Mephiles later used its power along with the yellow emerald to battle Shadow), the blue emerald (which was owned by Elise who then gave it to Sonic when she was captured. Sonic then gave it to Eggman so as to ensure Elise's release. Eggman then put the emerald into his Egg Genesis which Silver and Blaze defeated and obtained the emerald themselves. Silver then gave it to younger Elise in the past as a good luck charm, which showed how Elise came to possess it in the present), the yellow emerald (which Mephiles went after at the end of Shadow's storyline and used to battle Shadow in conjunction with the green emerald), the white emerald (which the Duke of Soleanna sealed Iblis inside Elise's body with. The duke then gave the Emerald to Silver right before he died which Silver used to go back to the future so as to seal Iblis. Blaze then used it and the cyan Emerald to seal Iblis away into a different dimension), the cyan emerald (which Sonic and Shadow obtained from defeating Iblis so as to go back to the future. Sonic then gave the Emerald to Silver, which Blaze used in the future along with the white emerald to seal Iblis away) and the purple emerald (which Mephiles was shown to have the entire way through the series). The red emerald meanwhile was never seen in the main story lines until the Last Story, although it is possible that it is the one Dr. Eggman located when he searched for the Chaos Emeralds on his ship.

Mephiles also somehow uses some sort of ability when he uses the purple Emerald in his possession to warp all six of the other Emeralds to his location, possibly using the magnetic properties of the Emeralds, and uses their full power to begin his and Iblis' transformation into Solaris. Sonic's friends then have to search through the world's end for each of the Chaos Emeralds: Tails: Yellow, Omega: Green, Knuckles: Cyan, Silver: White, Rouge: Purple, Amy: Blue, Shadow: Red. Lastly, Elise, sharing the hopes and desires of the remaining cast (possibly even including Eggman) to bring Sonic back to the land of the living, uses all seven Chaos Emeralds to bring Sonic back to life, in the form of Super Sonic, who thanks Elise and shares his power with fellow hedgehogs Shadow and Silver.

Sonic Riders

Jet using the Chaos Emeralds on the key of Babylon Garden.

In Sonic Riders, the first one to be seen was stolen by the Babylon Rogues but it is unknown which one it was. After that, the only time they are featured was as the entry fee for the World Grand Prix. When Jet "won" the final race against Sonic, he claimed the seven Chaos Emeralds as his prize and used them to power the Key to Babylon Garden as Dr. Eggman had instructed to raise Babylon Garden from Sand Ruins.

Sonic Rush Adventure

In Sonic Rush Adventure it is suggested by Blaze that the Chaos Emeralds have a mind of their own. They appear in her dimension for no indicated reason and one must raceJohnny for the Chaos Emeralds, although it is possible that Sonic had them with him before he arrived in the Sol Dimension and they scattered during the transition.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, the emeralds are stolen one-by-one by the lost clan of echidnas known as the Nocturnus Clan (who are often referred to as the "Marauders") in order to use their magnetic relationship with the Master Emerald to attract the Master Emerald and Angel Island itself to their base of operations. The Chaos Emeralds later are taken by Ix into the Twilight Cage, and distributed amongst the Kron (to power their factory), the Zoah (as a power-source for a secret weapon to use against the N'rrgal), the N'rrgal (as a weapon against the Zoah), the VoxaiOvermind, and Ix's two Gizoid prefects, Scylla and Charyb. At the end of the game, the emeralds are all brought back together and Sonic uses them to become Super Sonic and fought Ix in his Super State. This also includes the Great Emeralds, which are emeralds that have been charged up with Voxai power.

Sonic Unleashed

In Sonic Unleashed, after being caught by an early design of Eggman's "Egg Dragoon", Sonic summons the power of the Chaos Emeralds and becomes Super Sonic to destroy Eggman's fortress. However, Eggman traps Super Sonic in his Chaos Energy Cannon which removes the emeralds from him, reversing his super transformation and drains the emeralds of all of their power in order to power his laser, designed to awaken and release Dark Gaia from the planet. From there, the emeralds are left completely black and powerless, and are taken by Sonic and Light Gaia to the seven sacred shrines on different parts of the planet.

The Emeralds' powers are restored one-by-one, and the seven continents are put back into place as each emerald is restored. At the end of the game, while inside each of the shrines, Light Gaia asks the Chaos Emeralds to bring the shrines to him, and the emeralds, as well as the shrines, appear inside the core of the planet, with the shrines combining together to build the Gaia Colossus, which Light Gaia controls via his own power. The Chaos Emeralds are lastly used by Sonic to become Super Sonic.

Sonic Colors

In the Wii version of Sonic Colors, the Chaos Emeralds only appear in the Game Land. To collect the Chaos Emeralds the player must unlock and finish all the Sonic Simulator levels which requires gathering all 180 Red Star Rings in the game. Once done, the option to use Super Sonic must be activated from the options menu. Sonic cannot use Wisps in this mode (an alternate route appears in areas that absolutely need Wisps), and requires fifty rings to transform, but he gains bonus points every few seconds it is active and has infinite boost power, Super Sonic retains most of his old mannerisms in games like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 such as gliding when picking up speed (and the fact Sonic needs fifty rings to transform once more as usual). In the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors, Chaos Emeralds are once again collected through Special Stages. After all of them are obtained, Super Sonic is playable only to beat a secret, optional boss called Nega-Mother Wisp.

Sonic Generations

In the Xbox 360/PS3/PC versions of Sonic Generations, both Sonics must collect the Chaos Emeralds before the battle against the Time Eater. Classic Sonic gets the Purple and Green Emeralds and Modern Sonic gets the Yellow, Blue, White, Red and Cyan Emeralds.

For some unexplained reason (possibly due to the Time Eater's actions) the Emeralds end up in the White Space. There, the Purple Emerald is found by Classic Metal Sonic, the Yellow Emerald is found by Shadow, and the White Emerald is found by Silver. The remaining Emeralds - Green, Blue, Red, and Cyan - end up getting drained of their color and drift through though the White Space, and the Sonics have to restore them by fixing the worlds. After Modern Sonic defeats the second boss, Perfect Chaos, the Time Eater appears but is repelled by the now-colorless red Chaos Emerald. After the Sonics restore Planet Wisp, the red Chaos Emerald regains its color and Modern Sonic catches it by perform a Sonic Boost in mid-air, much to the amazement of Classic Sonic.

In order to gain access to the Center of Time, Modern and Classic Sonic have to place all the Chaos Emeralds into the broken gears near the entrance in order to open it. During the final confrontation when both Sonics get badly injured by the Time Eater, Sonic's friends appear and cheer on both Sonics. The Chaos Emeralds then emerge from the Sonics, reacting to their friends' encouragements and they transform both of them into Super Sonic.

In the 3DS version, Modern Sonic gets the Chaos Emeralds through Special Stages, available after completing both acts of a zone. These are modeled after the Special Stages from Sonic Heroes, as Sonic must collect orbs and boost to the Emerald before the stage runs out.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4

Beginning with Episode I, collecting the emeralds works the same way as it did in the original Sonic the Hedgehog game, by collecting 50 rings and entering the Special Stage at the end of an act. Sonic would then need to navigate through a series of mazes that constantly tilt clockwise and counterclockwise, with many obstacles to reach the emerald. In Episode II, the emeralds are obtained by reaching the end of an act (with the exception of boss acts and the first acts of Sky Fortress Zone and the Death Egg mk.II Zone) with 50 rings and jumping into the giant ring past the sign post, and completing Special Stages designed in a half-pipe, which pays homage to Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Sonic Lost World

In Sonic Lost World, the player can once again collect the seven Chaos Emeralds in gameplay, though it will have no impact on the storyline of the game.

The way of collecting them differs between the versions of the game. In the Wii U, the player automatically obtains a Chaos Emerald whenever they collect all the Red Star Rings found in one of the game's worlds. The collected Chaos Emerald can then be found on the world's map, though interacting with it will only show the Chaos Emeralds the player has collected. In the Nintendo 3DS version, the Chaos Emeralds can, like in many other games, be collected by completing each of the seven Special Stages. Collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds allows the player to transform Sonic into Super Sonic in normal gameplay.

Other game appearances

Sonic holding a Chaos Emerald in his victory pose.

All seven Chaos Emeralds can also be seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl when Sonic transforms into Super Sonic and when he turns back to normal. The Chaos Emeralds can also be seen on Super Sonic's trophy. In one of Sonic victory poses Sonic is seen holding a blue Chaos Emerald.

In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, the Chaos Emeralds appear in the Dream Figure Skating (Sonic) event. The players team must recover the Emeralds from Flappers and then use them to defeat a frozen version of the monster, Perfect Chaos.

In Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, the Chaos Emeralds are seen when Sonic transforms into Super Sonic and Shadow transforms into Super Shadow. Also the Item logo for these All-Stars moves has a picture of all seven Chaos Emeralds.

Artificial Emeralds

It is possible to create synthetic Chaos Emeralds with the same wavelength and properties as the originals, but with less power as demonstrated by Tails in Sonic Adventure 2. In addition, the artificial Emeralds can be used to sabotage devices that require Chaos Emeralds to power them. It was because of this that Tails attempted to place a fake Chaos Emerald into the Eclipse Cannon console and render it inoperable. In addition, because it had the same wavelength and properties as the originals, artificial emeralds also allowed the user to access Chaos Powers just as a genuine Chaos Emerald would, which is especially apparent with how Sonic escaped from a pod rigged to explode.

In the arcade game Sonic the Fighters, in order to travel to the Death Egg II, the player must collect all the Chaos Emeralds. Each character held an Emerald in the "story mode", and to get another one from a different character, they must be defeated in a fight. However, instead of the traditional seven Emeralds, there are eight. The widely accepted reason for this is because there are eight fighters, and so Sega added another Chaos Emerald. Some fans believe that this eighth Emerald is fake, but it is usually treated as a gameplay device rather than a significant plot element. There is also the possibility that the eighth Emerald is in fact the Master Emerald because it was obtained by Knuckles. Though the Master Emerald is green, and Knuckles' Emerald was red, there is the possibility that the Master Emerald can influence the color of the Emeralds (including itself) in addition to the amount of power they will release. This would explain why the Emeralds occasionally appear pink or orange. Incidentally, the color of the Master Emerald can be manipulated due to a glitch in Sonic & Knuckles. Note that early Japanese manuals identified the Master Emerald as an eighth, larger Chaos Emerald. However, the term usually applies to the seven smaller Emeralds.

In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, after accessing the Sound Test and entering a code, the player has access to a secret, and very difficult, 8th special stage. Upon completion, this stage yields the gray Emerald. In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, after accessing the Sound Test, two unused Special Stages could be accessed (one Chaos Emerald stage, with the same layout as the one in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but with different colored panels, and one Super Emerald Stage). They unlocked a "golden" Emerald (instead of the gray one as in Sonic the Hedgehog 3). After that, the player goes on to the Angel Island Zone stage. This Emerald is considered a glitch.

Colors

In the original Sonic the Hedgehog, the six Emeralds were blue, yellow, pink, green, red and silver. A seventh, purple Emerald then appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the pink Emerald was replaced with cyan one, and the yellow Emerald became orange. In Sonic the Fighters, there were eight emeralds, one for each playable character: Sonic (blue), Tails (orange), Knuckles (red), Amy (pink), Bean (green), Bark (yellow), Fang (darker purple), and Espio (violet). The orange emerald was colored yellow again in Sonic Adventure, and the colors of the Emeralds have remained constant ever since, as (in Sonic Advance/Sonic Rush order) red, blue, yellow, green, white, cyan and purple. The white Emerald often appears gray, and Sonic R had both a yellow and an orange Emerald instead of a blue/cyan one (the Chaos Emerald was blue in the racing course it was found in, but the screen after the race shows it as cyan). Strangely in Sonic Jump, the cyan Chaos Emerald was replaced by a black-colored one. In Sonic X, the Emerald colors were: Dark Blue, Cyan, Yellow, Purple, Red, White and Green.

(Early releases of the Jazwares Super Pack with the Super States of the three hedgehogs (Sonic, Shadow, and Silver) and the seven Chaos Emeralds had the orange emerald instead of the cyan emerald. The orange emerald was replaced with the light blue/cyan emerald in newer packs.)

Certain games have used their own unique colors for the emeralds - in the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog they are light blue, dark blue in Sonic Spinball, while in Sonic Battle they are all green. In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series by Archie Comics, green is the color of most Chaos Emeralds. Special zones sometimes house Emeralds that are white (see Super Sonic vs. Hyper Knuckles, February 1996), a black Emerald served as a prison for Chaos 0 (see Sonic the Hedgehog #80) and mention is made of a red Emerald on an alien home world (see Sonic the Hedgehog #126). In the UK's Sonic the Comic series, the emeralds are blue, yellow, red, green, orange, grey and purple. In Sonic Heroes, Team Dark's Special Attack involved stopping time with Chaos Control, even if you have not collected any emeralds. This is apparently a fake emerald and it looks slightly like tinted glass (even though when looking at the texture files of the game, the texture for this Emerald is the same as in Sonic Adventure 2).

Appearances in other media

Comics

Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic

Chaos Emerald is mentioned in Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic Volume 1. According to the doctor Eggman, Chaos Emerald contains unfathomable energy and nobody has ever been able to find one before. With one of it, he'll be able to boil world's largest egg in the world's largest pot, which has been dreaming since as a child. One of Eggman's robots detects a Chaos Emerald from north west of South Island, in Green Hill Zone. Chaos Emerald is never mentioned in later volumes.

Sonic the Comic

In the UK's Sonic the Comic, the Chaos Emeralds were originally green Raw Emeralds from the Sacred Emerald Mine of the ancient Echidnas, but were infused with chaos energy by the Drakon Empire in the distant past. When brought together outside of certain stabilizing conditions (e.g. extreme cold), the Chaos Emeralds generate a chain reaction of chaos energy and warp to the Special Zone.

Archie Comics

In the Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog and its spin-offs, the Chaos Emeralds were originally said to physical embodiments of the "Chaos Force", the all-encompassing force of the universe, and were much more numerous. A seemingly rare mineral, they could be found all across the universe, each coming in a different color depending on the celestial body. They are also connected to the "Power Rings", which are by-products of the emeralds. In addition, there exist rare 'Super Emeralds', created from unique Chao.

The central planet in the comics' storyline, Mobius, was given its supplies of green Chaos Emeralds during the mysterious event known as the Coming of the Chaos Emeralds, where the emeralds fell down to the planet. Their power were harnessed to revolutionize the world and gave as well rise to various villains and demi-gods, such as Mammoth Mogul and the Ancient Walkers. For ages until the present day, the Chaos Emeralds were a focus of much conflict on Mobius.

All the Chaos Emeralds in the universe were eventually brought to Mobius by the villain A.D.A.M., but Super Shadow and Turbo Tails managed to sent them all into the Special Zone. There, the Zone's new ruler, Feist fused all of them into the seven differently colored jewels which he would hand out to those who could complete his challenges. The seven emeralds were later used by Dr. Eggman and Dr. Wily to reshape reality with the Super Genesis Wave, but though Sonic and Mega Man stopped them, Sonic's multiverse was left heavily altered. In this new reality, the Chaos Emeralds and their background are the exact same as those in the games.

Animation

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

In the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog television series, the Chaos Emeralds are five (initially four) green emeralds in different shapes. They are hidden in different time periods, and each emerald focuses on a different power:

In a quest for the first four Chaos Emeralds, Dr. Robotnik rampaged through time to find them, but was stopped at every turn by Sonic and Tails. Regardless, Robotnik still managed to get the emeralds and used their power to become the Supreme High Robotnik, but Sonic, Tails and multiple incarnations of them from across time stopped him and returned the emeralds to their rightful places. Robotnik later discovered a fifth Chaos Emerald, but lost it to Sonic before he could use it.

Another of DiC's Sonic adaptations had Chaos Emeralds in it, but very little is known about them. Like in the games, they are a source of incredible power but the exact number of them in existence in unknown. Knuckles guards one Emerald on the Floating Island, and Robotnik tried to steal it and frame Sonic for it. It failed in a way very similar to the Archie story of the same basic idea.

In a three part episode towards the end of the series' run, Dr. Robotnik managed to acquire another Chaos Emerald and used it to power his Fortress of Altitude. However, he lost the Emerald to his lackeys Sleet and Dingo, who stole it after deciding to leave Robotnik and get their own power. When Dingo attempted to go solo, the Emerald broke, and threatened to destroy Mobius with waves of Chaos.

Forced to work together with Robotnik, Knuckles and the royal siblings located the fragmented Emerald. However, when Sleet attempted to contain it by placing it within Dingo - transformed into a safe - it reacted with Dingo's mutation abilities. Becoming a giant, shape-shifting monster, Dingo threatened to destroy all of Mobius before he was brought down. The shattered Emerald was then placed within a special canister by Knuckles and taken to the Floating Island.

In the episode Mobodoon, it is possible that the crystal seen generating Mobodoon's beauty (later stolen by Robotnik) is in fact a Chaos Emerald, as it looks very similar to one, and at one point Manic uses the crystal to recharge his siblings' medallions.

Sonic X

In Sonic X, the Chaos Emeralds echoed their role in the games as objects that were sought after by all parties. In this media, the Chaos Emerald is described as a legendary stone that gives one the power to rule the world.[16] Also, all seven being in one place results in them releasing energy that push them away from each other. This is likely this media's way of creating an explanation as to why the Chaos Emeralds end up scattering, as opposed to when in the video games they just seem to scatter for no reason.

Originating from Sonic's world, the Chaos Emeralds came to earth during a massive Chaos Control amidst a battle between Sonic and Dr. Eggman. There, they were sought by Sonic and his friends to return home while Eggman sought them for various plots to conquer the planet. Eventually though, the Chaos Emeralds returned to the world from whence they when Sonic used them to go home. Six months later, the Chaos Emeralds were targeted by the Metarex, an alien race of cyborgs bent on universal domination, but Sonic and his allies managed to secure them and use them to stop the Metarex.

Emerald Shards

Emerald Shards are fragments of Chaos Emeralds crushed by Doctor Eggman found in Sonic Battle. They are used to operate the E-121 Phi model robots. Once an E-121 Phi is destroyed they drop their Emerald Shard and either break down or retreat. When 5 Emerald Shards of the same color are united, a Chaos Emerald can be created. Tails is the one who first discovered how Emerald Shards work and characters often visit him to have their Chaos Emerald reassembled which Emerl would soon absorb. Chaos Gamma is also seen with an Emerald Shard which he absorbs to injure Shadow.

Trivia

"Chaos" in the English language means disorder and an irregular, unpredictable action that was remarkably sensitive to regular changes in environment, similar to how the Chaos Emeralds in the series act. "Chaos" as used in Greek refers to a large emptiness, or space. "Space" in English came to be a general term meaning both everything outside of the Earth’s atmosphere and the placement of objects in relation to one another.

In Sonic the Hedgehog 2, if the player gets a Game Over (or finishes the game) and starts a new game via the Options menu, the number of Chaos Emeralds he/she had in the previous game is transferred over to the new game.

The Chaos Emeralds are not indestructible as shown in Sonic Battle; the Emeralds have been seen breaking but are easily repaired.

Just one Emerald supplies a lot of power. Mephiles managed to gain the power of turning the battlefield into darkness with just one Chaos Emerald, and managed to create a massive army of clones just by using two Emeralds in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). One emerald alone contains enough power to knock back and repel the Time Eater.

It is occasionally implied that the Chaos Emeralds (much like the Master Emerald) are sentient. As stated at the end of Sonic Rush Adventure, Tails believes that the Emeralds wanted to be used to build the SS Tornado EX. It was also theorized by Blaze that the Chaos and Sol Emeralds brought Sonic and Tails to her world for a reason. And in Sonic Rush, Eggman and Eggman Nega state that in close proximity, the two sets of Emeralds call out to each other.

In Sonic Adventure, the Emeralds are said to be able to turn thoughts into power, but in Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), Sonic seemed surprised when new plant life emerged. It is, however, possible that Sonic did not know what they were, and simply wished they would do something for the benefit of South Island, and they granted it.

When the colors of the Chaos Emeralds are inverted, they simply swap colors, giving the appearance that the position of the Emeralds simply changed.

When causing a super transformation, the Emeralds usually surrounds the users in a circle and starts rotating around the users, before being absorbed.

↑Sonic Team, Blindlight (24 November 2006). Sonic the Hedgehog. Xbox 360/PlayStation 3. Sega. Area/Level: End of the World. "Silver the Hedgehog: Of course! Let's call him back with the power of the Chaaos Emeralds! Focus your thoughts on using its power to perform this miracle..."